WIP Wednesday July 31

First square, Great American Aran Afghan:

Variation on the Bigger on the Inside shawl:

A quick shot of the Temperature Scarf, done through July:

Fo Friday 7/26

If you finish spinning some yarn, does that count as a finished object?

I clearly need more practice. Still, it was fun finishing up this bit of merino/alpaca with my brand new spindle.

Fun in the (e)mail

Mike of The Spanish Peacock sent a picture of my new spindle. I'm excited for it to arrive.

I've been really good about not buying yarn. I checked my Ravelry stash and the last non-club yarn I got was a sweater's worth back in April. I had a coupon from SpaceCadet Creations that was a club thing. I decided to use it now since I'm facing a bunch of home repairs. The colorway's called Diaphanous:

Note that the grayish brown fiber on the right side is not part of the yarn. It is part of a cat who refused to move.

Tour de Done

Tour-de-Sock: I did one of the last pair of socks and decided to not do the other. It's a really interesting pattern made up of triangles. I followed the pattern okay but it just doesn't look that good. If the Tardis showed up and I could go back to Saturday morning, I would've made a different yarn choice and maybe finished a pair.

Tour de Fleece: I wimped out on using the wheel. I made it about 3/4 through my bonus braid before starting that triangles sock.

I have been keeping up with the Use It or Lose It project. Despite nearly missing posting my July entry, I won a pattern! Patterns are great prizes for a stash reduction project. I've got nine complete projects.

Next? I don't know what's next. I've got some sewing to do.

Yarnbox

I received my first shipment from Yarnbox today:

The yarns are various forms of recycled silk. I like the idea of poor women being able to get a decent wage by producing this yarn. I like the idea of waste not going into landfills because it becomes yarn instead. What I don't like is getting four skeins of yarn and having zero idea of what to do with them.

The information that came with the box indicated that this was a one-off and they'd be going back to whatever the usual box is next time. I'd like to suggest that if they do it again, they give some kind of an idea what to do with it. Most of us can come up with something to do with a skein of more traditional yarn. What do you do with 117 feet (not yards )of silk fabric pieces? Or 32 yards of worsted weight recycled silk yarn?

My expectations were fairly neutral before I got the box. I think I'll give them another month before I cancel my subscription.

Tour de Fleece: Day 19

I finished my basic goal. This pile of strings is 825 yards of Green Stamps yarn:

Why the name Green Stamps? Back in the previous century, some supermarkets used to give out stamps based on how much your bought. You'd paste the stamps in little books and when you got enough books, you could go pick out free stuff with them. Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I was buying some fun theme batts from someone whose name escapes me at the moment. For each batt you bought, you got virtual green stamps (that being the name of one of the most popular stamp companies). When I got enough green stamps, I got some free batts.

I missed two days of spinning on the Tour because I was under the weather. I don't feel too bad about it because I did meet the goal I set for myself. Tomorrow's the challenge day. I'm going to get the wheel ready to go and finish the Tour using it.

I ordered a custom spindle a couple of days ago. It doesn't make much sense since I'm planning on working with the wheel, but I don't care. The spindle has my name on it in Gallifreyan. Nerds rule.

No. More. Cables.

Here's the latest Tour-de-Sock entry:

I didn't think the socks would ever end. I'd keep knitting more cables and the idiot things would not get longer. I'm happy that I won't have to touch any knitting needles for a week if I don't want to. No worries, Doctor Who Odd Duck spoilee. The next projects for you involve sewing and crochet.

WIP Wednesday and ...

...Tour de Fleece Day 12. There's more going on than the spindle shows. I was moving some singles off of the spindle and putting them on the niddy noddy. The yarn snapped and I wasn't able to find the end. It's buried in there somewhere.

The turquoise stuff is my Spock sock. It has a fraternal twin, Tiberius. Spock is slightly narrower than Tiberius, but I think they'll even out when they are blocked.

The fabrics are from Spoonflower and at least one of them will be a project for my Doctor Who swap spoilee.

Visit Tami's Amis and find out why she chose grape soda over sugar snap peas.

Tour de Fleece: Day 9

It's about 430 yards of fingering-ish weight, two ply. This is most of what I've done during the Tour. A little bit was spun pre-Tour. I had a day when I couldn't face knitting one more stitch and I picked up the spindle instead.

Tour de Fleece: Day 6

This is what I did today. I cleared off the spindle before I started. I had about 250 yards on it. The little sheep was made from some of my earliest attempts a couple of years ago. Early=stuff I did once I could get it thin.

Tour de Fleece: Day 5

...and Tour de Sock, pair 4. They're the reason I haven't gotten more spinning done. They're also reason that this is the best picture I could get of them. Must sleep.